Ngā Toi Māori is made up of practitioners specialising in the creation and composition of taonga works and the oral arts, such as weavers, carvers, tohunga tā moko, writers, musicians, mōteatea and kapa haka performers, composers and choreographers, visual artists, designers, waka and wharenui designers and builders. Low data makes it challenging to assess employment in this sector.
Toi Ora, Tāngata Ora; Toi Ora, Whenua Ora is the first industry development plan (IDP) for Ngā Toi Māori, the Māori creative arts sector. While recognised socially as a sector, there is no formal, legal classification, and so accurate statistics on who is working in the sector and how many – needed to aid workforce development initiatives – are currently impossible to gather, and any formal coverage of the sector includes Māori doing work in other sectors that don’t necessarily fall within Ngā Toi Māori, such as graphic design, architecture and media.
We are calling this plan an industry development plan (IDP) rather than a workforce development plan (WDP), because the industry scaffolding that is assumed to underpin other WDPs does not yet exist for Ngā Toi Māori. Before we can understand the workforce and vocational education needs of the industry, there has to be an industry in the first place!
This IDP has been developed through a human-centred research process where 12 empathy interviews and one wānanga were conducted with ringatoi (artists) from across various disciplines, whose kōrero informed the themes, challenges and opportunities as outlined in the plan.
Toi Mai would like to acknowledge and thank those who shared their invaluable feedback on the draft WDP. The final plan (including the final recommendations and actions) is linked to in the resources below.
Contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Toi Ora, Tāngata Ora; Toi Ora, Whenua Ora is mahi tahi in action.
The research, facilitation, analysis, writing and documentation of this Industry Development Plan have been completed by the Toi Māori team at Toi Mai.
Also, thanks to Simon Holbrook, Professor Ngātaiharuru Taepa and Graham Tipene for their guidance that brought this plan to life. But mostly, we would like to thank all the people across the motu whose honest and open feedback enabled us to gain compelling insights so that together we can shape a better future for Toi Māori and Aotearoa.
Toi Mai would like to acknowledge the time and contribution of the following people:
Hana Mereraiha
Kereama Clarke
Sam Palmer
Tamahou Temara
Simi Paris
Johnson Witehira
Janaya Waitere
Graham Tipene
Professor Ngātaiharuru Taepa
Israel Birch
Hemi McGregor
Rongomaiaia te Whaiti
Kurt Smith-Komene
Kiringaua Cassidy
Rangi Kipa
Te Rangitu Netana
Toi Mai offices are closed from midday on Friday 20 December and will reopen on Monday 6 January 2025.
We will not be checking phone messages or emails during this period, however please feel free to leave a message and we will respond when we return in the New Year.
Meri Kirihimete me ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa!
